Pharmacological Significance of Plants and Herbs Used in Islamic Medicine
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Pharmacological Significance of Plants and Herbs Used in Islamic Medicine Pages with reference to book, From 28 To 34 Muhammad Shoaib Akhtar ( Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. ) Abstract This paper enlists some selected plants and herbs whose curative effects have already been proved by the modern researches and/or their active principles have been isolated. This shows correlation between empirical application and scientific use of medicinal plants for the treatment of certain diseases. In the end, some recent pharmacological screenings of medicinal plants carried out in our laboratories have been briefly described. (J.P.M.A. 35 28, 1985). Introduction Man’s health and well-being has been a subject of his primary concern from time irnmemorial. Centuries of observations, trials and error and the innate sense of curiosity has equipped mankind with a great deal of knowledge and wisdom that it has today in the field of modern medicine. The knowledge of drugs goes back to prehistoric times as man has always continued to find remedies to his maladies through the materials available in his environment. Sometimes, this purpose was achieved through eating a particular animals flesh or through a ritual but mostly it was through the use of plants and herbs growing in his environment. Continued observations on trial and error basis particularly regarding the use of herbs and plants for the treatment of ailments finally enabled man to establish various systems of medicine. They have probably the longest history of serving humanity. The system so called Islamic medicine includes infact all developments which have been made in different countries of the world by different nations and the new edifice that was, thereafter, erected by the Muslim scholars and physicians on the foundations unearthed by them. The ancient Greek medicine was taken over by the Romans and then by the Muslims from whom, after its enrichment with Chinese and Indian medicines, it was taken over by the modern medicine. Thus medicinal plants have been serving through the ages as a constant source of medicaments for the treatment of diseases and indeed major contributions on the medicinal properties of plants were made by Arab physicians. Several such herbs and plants when later on subjected to clinical trials of pharmacological screening were found to be useful in curing diseases for which they have been empirically used since centuries. During the past century, extensive researches have been conducted in the field of synthetic chemistry and medicine. These researches have produced remarkable results and have led to the dominance of synthetic drugs over the vegetable medicines particularly in the west. However, despite these great strides of synthetic chemistry, the use of plants and herbs has partially continued in many countries of the world. Even in U.S.A., for instance, out of the 1.53 billion prescriptions dispensed during 1973, about 25% contained one or more active ingredients obtained from higher plants with cost involvement of about 3 billion dollars 1. The bulk of the rural population in Asia and Africa continues to rely mainly on drugs of plant origin for medical relief. The availability of synthetic drugs has, however, in general served to delay research on many potent drugs of plant origin. Nevertheless, many of the medicinal plants and herbs which have been subjected to scientific research have yielded really potent compounds. Indeed, several such compounds have been or are being commonly used in the cosmopolitan medicine. Modern Drugs of Plant Origin In an attempt to set out the perspective for drugs of vegetable origin, the names of some of plants and their active principles included in the cosmopolitan therapeutic armaments are attached herewith. These examples clearly prove the curative effects of herbs and plants and it has been estimated that at best 30% of the total world plants have yet been tapped and a vast majority of them with limitless possibilities are still left uninvestigated 2-5 . Fortunately the interest in medicinal plants has been on the increase all over the world in the recent years. This is perhaps due to the reason that modern medicine has not been able to solve all health problems and is becoming out of reach of a common man. Some Recent Pharmacological Screening of Medicinal Plants Research on medicinal plants used in the medicine has been the topic of research department. Some of the researches are summarized below: ORAL ANTIBACTERIAL/ANTIINFLAMATORY DRUGS 1) Acacia Arabica (Kikar) Anthraquinones, tannins 2) Adina microcepal Mitraphylline 3) Aegle marmelos Volatile oil, tannins 4) Azadirachta indica Margosine, Neem oil (Neem) 5) Diospyros barteri Scopolin,Naphthaquinones, fluorides 6) Gaultheria Procumbens Methylcellulose 7) Jatropha curcas Curcin, tannins 8) Pongainia glabra Pongamic oil (Sukhchain) 9) Rwnex erispus Rwnicin, lapathin, (Hummaz emmodm, tannin 10) Salyadora persica Salvadorine., trimethylamine, Chlorides 11) Sassafres àllidrum Safrole, essential oil DRUGS FOR PARASifIC INFECTIONS 1) Artemesia martima Santonin (Afsanteen) 2) Aieca catechu (Sapari) Arecholme 3) Matricaria chamomile Chamomile oil (Gul-i-babunah) or flowers 4) Chenopodium ambro Oil of wormwood siodes var. anthelminticum ANTICOAGULANT DRUGS 1) Melilotus officinalis Coumarin compounds 2) Dipteryx (Coumarounda) As aboveodorata 3) Anthoxanthum doodoratum (Sweet vernal grass) DRUGS FOR HEART DISEASES 1) Nerium oleander Oleadrin (Kaner) 2) Strophanthus gratus Ouabin (Strophanthine) (Strophanthus) 3) Thevetia neriifolia Thevetin and Thevetoxin (Pila-Kaner) 4) Uroinea indica Scillarin A & B (Jungli-Piyaz) 5) Digitalis lanata and other Digitoxin, digoxine, species (Foxglove) gitoxin and lanatoside-C 6) Cinchona Officrnale Quinidine, the dextroi(Cinchona) somer of quinine 7) Ammi visnaga (Kheila) Kheilin (Coronary vasodilator) DRUGS FOR MYASTHENIA GRAVIS 1) Galanthus waronowii Galanthamine 2) Leucojum aestivum Galanthamine 3) Ungernia victoris Galanthamine LOCAL ANAESTHETIC DRUGS 1) Erythroxylum Coca Cocaine (Coca) DRUGS FOR MIGRAINE 1) Claviceps purpurea Ergotamine (Ergot) 2) Camellia sinensis (Tea) Caffeine 3) Coffea arabica (Coffee) Caffeine and other Xanthines ANTITUSSIVE AND EXPECTORANT DRUGS 1) Cephaelus ipecacuanha lpecae ( Syrup and Tincture) 2) Eucalyptus Citriodera Cineol, Terpine hydrates, (Safeda) and Pelargonium volatile oils oderatissinrnm (Worm-seed) 3) Fagus ferrugines Creosote, Cresol and (American beech) Guanicol 4) Adhatoda vasica Bromhexine (Sythetic (Berg Bansa) derivative of Vasicine. 5) Papaver somniferum Codeine (Khashkhash, Afyum) 6) Glaucum flavum Glaucine 7) Glycyrrhiza glabra Extract (Root) (Liquorice) DRUGS FOR CONSTIPATION 1. Plantago ovate Seeds and Husk jused (lsabghol) as such) 2. Rhamnus purshiana Anthraquinone glyco (Cascar) sides 3. Cassia angustifolia Anthraquinone glyco (Sanna-Makki) sides 4) Ricinus communis Castor oil (Castor) ANTITLJBERCULOUS DRUGS 1) Stephania cepharantha Ceplaranthine and Stephania sasaki 2) Virginia wang Berberine 3) Coptis chiengis Berberine DRUGS FOR GASTRIC DUODENAL ULCERS 1) Glycyrrhiza glabra Glycerhetic acid (Succenyl derivative or as aluminum salt) MUSCLE RELAXANT DRUGS 1) Chondodendron d-tubocurarjne tomentosin (Curare) 2) Erythrina species Alkaloids Erythrina symposium (8) DRUGS FOR SEX DISORDERS 1) Glocine max(Soybean) Sigmasterol used for sex-hormone synthesis 2) Physostigma venosum As above(Calabar beam) 3) Cereal Grains 4) Dioscorea deltoidea and Diosgenin used for pro- D. Floribunda and others ,gesterone synthesis 5) Irigonella Diogenin for Progesterone foenumgraecum synthesis 6) Corynanthe yohimbe Yohimbine (used as (Yohmibi) aphrodisiae) 7) Solanum la ciniatum Soiasodine used for corticosteroid synthesis 8) Claviceps purpurea Ergometrine (used as Ec (Ergot) bolic) DRUGS FOR PESTS CONTROL 1) Chrysanthenum Pyrethxins and Cinerarins cinerariaefolium 2) Derris eliptica Rotenone DRUGS FOR RHEUMATISM AND GOUT 1) Coichicum luteum Coichicine (Suranjan) 2) Prunus avium Blau (6) Keracyamin 3) Gloriosa superba Coichicine 4) Matricaria chamomilla Chamomile oil (Chamomile) DRUGS FOR AMOEB1C/BACILLARY DYSENTERY 1) Cephaelis ipecacuanha Emetine (Kanduri) 2) Berberis aristata Berberine and other spp. 3) Holarrhena Conessine antidysentrica DRUGS FOR ASTHMA BRONCHODILATORS 1) Cainellia sinensis (Tea) Theophylline derivates like aminophylline 2) Ammi visnaga (Khella) Cromolyn (uxed for asthma prophylaxis) (Ephedra spp.: Eohedrine (Eohedraceae) DEYGS FOR CANCER 1) Vinca rosea (leaves) Vincristine and Vinvlastine 2) Podophyllum emodi Demethylepi-phyl (Papri) lotoxin thenylidene 3) Colchicum autumnale Dececoline and Colchine (Suranjan-talkh) 4) Stephania hernandifolia Tetrandrine (Aaknad) 5) Heliotropium indicum indicine (Hathi-Sundi Booti) DRUGS FOR DIABETES MELLITUS 1) Ymca rosea (Sada-Bahar) and the certain extracts (teas) of this plant are marketed as Covinca and Vinculin 2) Vinca rosea (Sada-Bahar) Vindolinine and Farnsworth and Segelm Leurosine (Alkaloids) man(4) 3) Eugenia Jambolana Jambolina (Jarmun) CARMINATWE AND AROMATIC DRUGS 1) Mentha arvensis (Mint) Menthol 2) Cymbopogon flexuosus Lemongrass oil (Citral) (Malabar grass) 3) Elettaria cardamomum Essential oil ticture (Cardamom) 4) Matricaria chamomilla Chamomile oil (Chamomile) DRUGS FOR EYE DISEASES 1. Atropa belladonna Atropine (Angoor-Shefa) 2. Physostigma venosum Physostigmin (Eserine) (Baqia) 3. Piocarpus jaborandi Pilocarpine 4. Hamameis virgimmane Extract (Witch Hazel) DRUGS FOR LEUCODERMA